Convergence and Diversity in the Governance of Higher Education: Comparative Perspectives

Higher education systems have undergone reform due to economic, global-knowledge economy, and competitive positioning strategies. Despite international pressures, policy, policy designs, and sector outcomes are marked by hybridity and similarity/convergence. This volume explores these complex governance outcomes from a theoretical and empirical comparative perspective.

Format: Hardback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 19 November 2020
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

For several decades, higher education systems have undergone continuous waves of reform, driven by a combination of concerns about the changing labor needs of the economy, competition within the global knowledge economy, and nationally competitive positioning strategies to enhance the performance of higher education systems. Despite far-ranging international pressures, including the emergence of an international higher education market, enormous growth in cross-border student mobility, and pressures to achieve universities of world-class standing, boost research productivity and impact, and compete in global league tables, the suites of policy, policy designs, and sector outcomes continue to be marked as much by hybridity as they are by similarity or convergence. This volume explores these complex governance outcomes from a theoretical and empirical comparative perspective, addressing those vectors precipitating change in the modalities and instruments of governance, how they interface at the systemic and institutional levels, and across geographic regions.

Higher education systems have undergone significant reform over the past several decades, driven by a multitude of factors. These include concerns about the evolving labor market, competition within the global knowledge economy, and strategies aimed at improving the performance of these systems. Despite widespread international pressures, such as the emergence of an international higher education market, the growth of cross-border student mobility, and the need to attain world-class status, policy, policy designs, and sector outcomes exhibit a notable degree of hybridity. This volume aims to explore these complex governance outcomes from a theoretical and empirical comparative perspective, examining the factors that precipitate change in the modalities and instruments of governance, as well as their interactions at the systemic and institutional levels, and across geographic regions.

Weight: 880g
Dimension: 159 x 236 x 36 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108483964